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Category: Research funding

by Sierra Williams • April 22, 2014 • Comments Off on Geographies of knowledge: practical ways to boost the visibility of research undertaken and published in the South.

Jonathan Harle and Sioux Cumming discuss how to strengthen research networks in developing countries. There is still a huge body of Southern research which simply never gets counted. Research that is undertaken and published in the South needs to be valued, and this will only happen when Southern universities value it in their reward and promotion systems and when research funders recognise it […]

by Sierra Williams • April 11, 2014 • Comments Off on University rankings wield immense influence over Higher Ed and society at large – with positive and perverse effects.

In a time of growing demand for and on higher education, university rankings have transformed university strategy. Ellen Hazelkorn finds their crude simplicity is what makes rankings so infectious. Yet, quality is a complex concept. Most of the indicators used are effectively measures of socio-economic advantage, and privilege the most resource-intensive institutions and-or countries. In response and reaction to the limited nature […]

by Sierra Williams • April 3, 2014 • Comments Off on Research assessment, altmetrics and tools for determining impact: Reading list for #HEFCEmetrics review launch.

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, has announced that HEFCE are arranging an independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment and management. The Impact blog welcomes this review and will look to encourage wider discussion and debate on how research is currently assessed and how it could be in years to come. Over the last two […]

by Blog Admin • March 14, 2014 • Comments Off on From STEM to STEAM: The potential for arts to facilitate innovation, literacy and participatory democracy.

The value of the arts goes far beyond its monetary returns. Malaika Cunningham outlines how the arts play a huge role in boosting proficiency within STEM subjects. Creative thinking is needed for truly excellent scientists, engineers and mathematicians, and how better to foster this than a rounded education, which includes arts subjects? Arts education fosters a literate and innovative workforce and strengthens the […]

by Blog Admin • February 6, 2014 • Comments Off on Five minutes with Nikolas Rose: “The imperative to make exaggerated promises about impact is damaging to the science itself”

Chris Gilson, Managing Editor of our sister blog USApp, recently interviewed Nikolas Rose, Head of the Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine at King’s College London and one of the principal investigators of the interdisciplinary, European Commission-funded Human Brain … Continue reading →

by Blog Admin • January 31, 2014 • Comments Off on The case for greater transparency in experimental and social science research

Proving public value can be an especially difficult task when high-profile cases of fraud in social science disciplines emerge. Rose McDermott makes the case for greater transparency in both the production and review of social science to restore the legitimacy … Continue reading →

by Blog Admin • January 20, 2014 • Comments Off on The Impact of the Social Sciences research book is out this week! Browse the living bibliography, data visualisations and other resources.

The Impact of the Social Sciences: How Academics and Their Research Make a Difference by Simon Bastow, Patrick Dunleavy, and Jane Tinkler. The three-year Impact of Social Sciences Project has culminated in a monograph published by SAGE. The book presents thorough … Continue reading →

by Blog Admin • January 20, 2014 • Comments Off on The contemporary social sciences are now converging strongly with STEM disciplines in the study of ‘human-dominated systems’ and ‘human-influenced systems’

Much less is known about the development of the social sciences as a complete discipline group than about the previously dominant STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) discipline group. Patrick Dunleavy, Simon Bastow and Jane Tinkler set out some key … Continue reading →

by Blog Admin • November 1, 2013 • Comments Off on The academic career path has been thoroughly destabilised by the precarious practices of the neoliberal university.

It is an increasingly difficult time to begin an academic career. The pressures of the REF, casualization and adjunctification of teaching and the disappearance of research funding are enormous obstacles academics face. Sydney Calkin looks at how academics have in many ways … Continue reading →

by Blog Admin • October 28, 2013 • Comments Off on Exploratory analysis of researcher behaviour challenges the assumption that STEM subjects are more societally useful than SSH.

Using a database with information on over 1,500 researchers, statistical analysis was recently undertaken to test the hypothesis that technical STEM subjects were more societally useful than social science and humanities (SSH) subjects. Paul Benneworth describes the research process and … Continue reading →